Btw, DDRB staff recommends final approval. In regards to the Adams Street situation:

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1. Sec. 656.361.11.- Setback or “Build To” Lines (Complies)

The intent of the Setback and “Build To” Lines is for buildings to provide continuous frontage along sidewalks creating a pedestrian-oriented and pedestrian-scaled environment.

The site plan shows a residential project with street frontage on N. Lee, N. Davis, W. Adams, and W. Monroe Streets. The drawings and site plan indicate building facades built to the property lines not with-standing areas for landscape and parking. It is noted that portions of the building are set back to accommodate the first floor of surface parking and a landscape buffer. The primary entrance for the project is proposed for the corner of Davis and Monroe Streets. As such, the drawings show compliance with this design guideline.

Also, a letter from the developer to the DDRB states:

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"At the request of the board, the southwest corner of the site was redesigned to capture the urban corner with a bike building that could be inwardly and outwardly focused, connecting the residents back to the city. The modified contemporary hardscape and landscape give the project a more urban feel and also provides residents with an enhanced sense of security."

Hey lakelander , have you seen the site work going on and the fencing up at the Lofts of Monroe? Exciting to see it get started. Wow! That's a record for Jax- at least 7 projects underway in downtown at one time.

I kinda agree with rattownryan for a few reasons. I grew up in LaVilla (826 West Duval Street), and back in the day LaVilla was very low income, rooming houses, very low income apartments, and of course predominantly African American (which means nothing). I would hope we would get away from the past and those precepts and precipitate a "come one, come all" type of mentality; as Lake said, "the more the merrier" regardless of who they are, low income, high income, etc., my sentiments exactly, but, let's try to get some high tier/income residents in there as well; mix them in. This is not the 50's, 60's, and 70s and even beyond up to the year 2000. However, if they did have 7 to 10 seniors, low income, huds in LaVilla, then oh well; that's the way it is, but as long as there is in fill and we fill up those empty lots with housing, any type of housing mind you, that's ok with me. As they taught in college, economics is based on people, so if the market is there for these residences, and the people fill them up and come live there, then I am in fact a "happy camper." Lastly, if the people "fill up" those residences after build up/build out, then comes the commercial aspect, more restaurants, night clubs, dining, laundromats, gas stations, convenience stores, and I could go on and on; so let's get these plans off paper and in construction and crane mode.

heights unknown: Construction activity- site clearing, fencing etc. has started already at the Lofts At Monroe. Comments?

Thanx "fam" for the update. I am indeed elated and happy that FINALLY there are multiple residential projects going on in and around downtown Jacksonville. I am planning a visit soon to see with my own eyes. I can hardly wait to see and view, with my own eyeballs, all of the construction and activity in the urban core. I'm real old school, and lived in Jax in the 70''s, 80's, and early 90's in which there was very little activity, numerous empty parking lots, and razing of properties with no plans whatsoever relative to anything at all replacing the razing. I thought this was horrific to say the least. With all of this going on, I've also got my finger crossed relative to the brand new upcoming JEA Building. I am hoping, and yes praying, for a signature, in your face, very tall office tower being built (700 feet, I know, might not be a justification for one that tall and/or the market may not support it), the first of such type in over 27 years (BOA Building I think was the last "true" office tower in downtown built in 1990 I believe). So that would be great as other major Florida cities have some really serious towers and developments in the planning pipeline. Hope these comments are enough "fam."

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Thanx "fam" for the update. I am indeed elated and happy that FINALLY there are multiple residential projects going on in and around downtown Jacksonville. I am planning a visit soon to see with my own eyes. I can hardly wait to see and view, with my own eyeballs, all of the construction and activity in the urban core. I'm real old school, and lived in Jax in the 70''s, 80's, and early 90's in which there was very little activity, numerous empty parking lots, and razing of properties with no plans whatsoever relative to anything at all replacing the razing. I thought this was horrific to say the least. With all of this going on, I've also got my finger crossed relative to the brand new upcoming JEA Building. I am hoping, and yes praying, for a signature, in your face, very tall office tower being built (700 feet, I know, might not be a justification for one that tall and/or the market may not support it), the first of such type in over 27 years (BOA Building I think was the last "true" office tower in downtown built in 1990 I believe). So that would be great as other major Florida cities have some really serious towers and developments in the planning pipeline. Hope these comments are enough "fam."

heights unknown: Yes it's nice to see so many projects going on at once. I wish they were all highrises. Hopefully JEA will break the highrise drought and give us all something we can really marvel at for a change./ howfam

High-rises are overrated. Do an image search of Amsterdam. You can be a great city with amazing street-side vibrancy, without towers. You do, however, need density and walkability and place-making. Many american inner cities have always had more high-rises than European cities, and yet they were as dead as door knobs for decades.

High-rises are overrated. Do an image search of Amsterdam. You can be a great city with amazing street-side vibrancy, without towers. You do, however, need density and walkability and place-making. Many american inner cities have always had more high-rises than European cities, and yet they were as dead as door knobs for decades.

Those European cities you speak of were founded long before skyscrapers came on the scene. Amsterdam dates back to the early 1300's and was likely more densely developed by the time Jax came about (1822) than downtown Jax is today. American cities are known for their high rises and Jax should be no exception. It's time we stop with the excuses and build this city into the great city it has the potential of becoming. We should aspire to have not only the tallest building in Florida , but also tallest in the U.S. , and eventually tallest in the world.

High-rises are overrated. Do an image search of Amsterdam. You can be a great city with amazing street-side vibrancy, without towers. You do, however, need density and walkability and place-making. Many american inner cities have always had more high-rises than European cities, and yet they were as dead as door knobs for decades.

Those European cities you speak of were founded long before skyscrapers came on the scene. Amsterdam dates back to the early 1300's and was likely more densely developed by the time Jax came about (1822) than downtown Jax is today. American cities are known for their high rises and Jax should be no exception. It's time we stop with the excuses and build this city into the great city it has the potential of becoming. We should aspire to have not only the tallest building in Florida , but also tallest in the U.S. , and eventually tallest in the world.

I'll be there in a few weeks, so I look forward to checking everything out. I always felt it was quite empty for all of those residential towers. South Beach on the other hand is quite active.

Miami's skyline wasn't that much larger than Jax's 25 to 30 years ago. Many of the towers in the skyline were constructed during the real estate boom of the early 2000s. Many sat empty as investors and developers lost their shirts with the crash. One's loss became the next person's gain with the return of a good economy. Those empty units were snatched up at reduced prices, resulting in significant population growth, which resulted in a new found market for retail and entertainment. Those things then attract more people, thus more towers popping up in the skyline that are designed to be more ped friendly at street level (result of revised zoning). Unlike Miami, most of our proposed projects were not underway when the market crash. So our proposals just died instead of being completed, sitting empty and rapidly filling up at reduced prices.

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Jax must figure out how to be an amazing city in its own right. I’ve lived in NYC for years, and we’ve always referred to Miami as the 6th borough. Miami is also an international city and the gateway to Latin America. Miami has been shaped at its cultural core by immigration, which has intensified its cross-border appeal, and Miami has been enriched by massive pools of wealth (very likely underground and funded by drugs). What’s happening in downtown Miami and in South Beach are results of all those factors I’ve just named above. That will not be Jax anytime soon. Nor should it be. I don’t think Jax has enough existing or new population who actually desire high-rise living. People here like the sun, they like barbecues...it’s hard to pull that off in high-rises. But that’s no reason not to fill up downtown with population. You can look at cities all over the globe and find examples of really cool, creative, urban, pedestrian-scale residential options that are NOT high-rises. And it’s not just because they were established in the Middle Ages, lol. It’s because if most people had their druthers, they wouldn’t be stacked on top of each other for their primary residential arrangements. That’s probably even more true in a place of “Jeffersonian” cultural persuasian like Jacksonville. People here want a piece of terra firma or something close to it...not to be startled every time a plate drops at the neighbor’s. But again, that should not be an obstruction to filling up downtown blocks with amazing things to see and experience when on two feet. I like a vision of Jax that has nothing to do with how Jax looks from a drone or from someone’s car window on the Fuller Warren. If I can take a train into Jax, exit the station, and walk along sidewalks, up and down avenues, and take in an abundance of things to see and do, most of which are unique to Jax and really make a positive mark, well then downtown has made it.

Yes, NYC has a wow factor because of its canyons of steel, but once you’ve actually lived among them, it puts things into perspective.